8/12/2013 Mr. Hughes 2013-2014 4th Grade Science Class Room 21 Dear Parents, Welcome to 4th Grade!

I hope all of you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer! I look forward to meeting and working with you to make this a super-successful school science year. Here we are at the beginning to a new school year and a new adventure for your child. I am thrilled to be your child's science teacher. This year marks my eighth as a teacher at Vanderlyn Elementary School. I have worked for several years at Vanderlyn as a kindergarten teacher, and for the last few years as a 4th Grade Science teacher. I was born in South Carolina but have lived in Georgia for 40 years. The last 16 of those years have been here in Dunwoody. I graduated from Shorter College in Rome, Ga., with an Economics degree. I was a deputy sheriff for a while. I owned my own marketing/design business and closed out my corporate career as a marketing service provider for Coca-Cola. I returned to school as I sought to fulfill the idea of a career change into education, and subsequently completed the required course work and my student teaching. I graduated from Mercer Universitys Teacher Certification Program in 2005. I returned to Mercer University to increase my teaching acumen and earned a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education in 2010. I also have been awarded a membership by invitation in Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society for recognition of academic excellence. I also received my Gifted certification in 2011. I also have completed a course in teaching ESOL. My goal for this year is for your children to develop a love for learning and an inquisitive mind that seeks out answers instead of waiting to be given them. I want them to become life-long learners and future citizens who will be an engaged and dynamic part of society. I believe that children learn so much from their successes, and equally as much from their failures. Please allow them to do both. My classroom is a safe and encouraging place for children to learn from their successes, and how to overcome and learn from their failures. In our class, I will expect the students to practice personal accountability and responsibility and to strive to do their personal best at all times. As I mentioned, I will create an environment that is warm and safe where the children feel free to learn at their pace, to experiment to understand, and to make knowledgeable observations about the world around them. Communication between home and school will be, primarily, through the student's agenda. This agenda is very important and should be treated as such - Do not lose! Also, please review it every night and sign before

returning to student. This way, I will know that you know what is expected of your child for the following day or week (like homework assignment, projects, test dates, behavioral issues, etc.) The agenda will be returned to school each school day. A secondary communication link will be through email as explained below. I am available for classroom conferencing, phone discussions or email discussions most any time to work towards this goal. (As noted on my website, I am available 7:15am -7:30am mornings and 2:45pm-3:00pm most afternoons, except Wednesday). Communication between parents and teachers is a key factor to creating a positive learning environment for students. Our job as parents and teachers is to provide the best education possible for our children. The way to do this is through two-way communication between parents and teachers. The quickest way to get in touch with me is through email. All lessons taught in the classroom will be focused around the Georgia Performance Standards for Science*. We will use technology in the form of computers, overhead projectors, Activeboards, microscopes, and various other types of lab equipment. Most of our learning will take place in the classroom or on Vanderlyn campus grounds (i.e., outdoor classroom), but we will be working in at least one field trip, hopefully more, over the course of the year. As a parent of two students myself, I understand the need to support the curricula, the standards based classroom and behavior expectations that are taught in school through practice and reaffirmation at home. It is this same support I look forward to seeing from you. It will take both of us to make sure that your child becomes the best learner in the history of history. Together, we can make your childs 4th grade year a successful experience! Thank you for the privilege, once again, of being a part of your childs lif e and education. Fun is Learning is Fun! Warmest regards, R. Kevin Hughes *Georgia has enacted standards (Georgia Performance Standards) that are simply the learning goals of each lesson taught during the course of a school day. Use of the standards allows the teacher to effectively monitor the growth and progress of the student towards mastery of the standards skill (like understanding the states of water). These standards are designed to help your child to take ownership of their own learning through inquiry and critical thinking. Georgia's standards apply to language arts, math, social studies and science.